Real estate tour chauffeur in Toronto

Why agents book a chauffeur for a showing day

A relocating executive and a partner have one day in Toronto to see eight houses across four neighbourhoods twenty kilometres apart, and the agent's job is to sell the city, the neighbourhood and the house in the forty minutes between each. An agent who is driving is an agent looking at the road; an agent in the back of an SUV with the client is an agent showing the school, the park, the coffee shop, the route to the office and the reason this street is the one. The chauffeur handles the 401, the parking on a Forest Hill crescent, the wait outside each house and the bags from the airport. The tour becomes the pitch.

A real estate tour chauffeur is an hourly booking - three hours minimum for a sedan or SUV, four to eight for a showing day - on the brokerage's or the relocation company's account. The Luxury SUV is the usual car: the agent and two clients in the back, standing-height seats for getting in and out eight times, a boot for the listing binders and the client's airport luggage. The full-day page covers the ten-hour version; this page is written for agents and relocation managers.

The Toronto tour, neighbourhood by neighbourhood

A first showing day for a relocating family typically runs north to south or city to 905. Forest Hill and Lawrence Park in the morning - the crescents off Spadina Road and the streets off Mount Pleasant, with a drive past Upper Canada College, Bishop Strachan and Havergal because the schools are half the decision. Rosedale and Moore Park next, with the ravines. The Bridle Path and York Mills for the client whose budget is the reason the agent booked a chauffeur. Lunch in Yorkville or at a club. Then the 905: Oakville's Old Oakville and Morrison for the executive whose office is in Mississauga, King City and Kleinburg for the estate lot, Unionville in Markham for the family with a tech-corridor commute, Thornhill and Bayview Hill in Richmond Hill. The area pages have the roads and the schools for each; the Oakville and Vaughan pages cover the two most-toured 905 municipalities.

A condo tour is the opposite shape: Yorkville, the Annex, King West, the waterfront, Leslieville and the Distillery in an afternoon, with the chauffeur handling the one thing no condo has - visitor parking - by waiting at the door.

The relocating executive's two days

The relocation company or the employer books the multi-day version: day one is the Pearson arrival, the hotel, and an orientation drive - the office, the neighbourhoods on the shortlist, the schools, the hospital, the grocery stores; day two is the showings; day three, if there is one, the second viewings and the school visits. The same chauffeur all three days, so that by day two the client stops noticing the car and starts noticing the streets. The personal chauffeur page covers the family who, having moved, keep the chauffeur for the first month.

What the chauffeur does on a showing day

Meets the agent and the client at the hotel or the brokerage. Has the showing list in order with the drive times at that hour. Parks legally on crescents where an agent's car usually does not - the chauffeur waits in the car, so a no-parking street is fine. Keeps the car warm or cool between houses. Holds the listing binders, the client's coat and the toddler's snacks. Drives past the school at pickup time if asked, so the client sees the street as it is. Says nothing about any house, ever, because that is the agent's job and because discretion is ours. Drops the client at the hotel and the agent at the office, or takes the family to dinner at the end, on the same block.

The right car

The Luxury SUV - Escalade, Navigator or similar - for the agent and up to two clients, or a family of four with the agent in front, with the seat height that makes the eighth house as easy as the first and a boot for luggage. The Mercedes S-Class for the high-net-worth client the agent is showing the Bridle Path to, where the car is part of the afternoon. The Executive Sprinter for a developer's site tour with investors, a brokerage's team tour of new listings, or a relocation group. The fleet page has the detail.

Hours and how the tour is billed

Four hours covers a focused half-day of four or five showings in one part of the city. Six covers the city-to-905 tour with lunch. Eight covers the full showing day with the school drive-bys and the dinner drop. The hourly rate for the class on the date, plus HST and gratuity, is shown before you confirm; overtime rounds to the next hour at the same rate; the 407 is used only if the agent chooses it to reach King City faster. The rates page explains the number. On a brokerage account the tour lands on the monthly invoice by agent and by client file; many brokerages expense it to the listing or the buyer's file as a marketing cost, and the receipt is itemised for that.

Why this is the agent's tool, not the client's

The client does not book it; the agent or the relocation company does, because the value is in the agent's attention. An agent who has driven a client around Toronto for six hours has spent six hours half-watching the road. An agent who has sat in the back of an SUV for six hours has spent six hours selling. The difference shows in the offer. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reports on the market; the agents who close relocation business report that the showing day is the sale, and the car is where the showing day happens.

Developers, investors and site tours

A developer showing a project to investors, a fund touring its GTA portfolio, a REIT's analyst day at its properties, a brokerage's new-agent orientation across the city's neighbourhoods: all are Sprinter or SUV days on account with a running order, and the corporate roadshow page explains how the dispatcher runs a schedule. Commercial site tours to industrial land in Milton, Brampton and Whitby-Oshawa are the same booking with more highway.

Cottage and second-home tours

The Muskoka cottage tour with a Muskoka agent, the Prince Edward County property, the Blue Mountain chalet, the Niagara vineyard estate: a ten- to twelve-hour day from Toronto with the drive included, the client resting on the way up and the agent meeting the car at the first property. The Muskoka, Blue Mountain and Prince Edward County pages give the drive and the block, and the Niagara wine-tour page knows the vineyard roads.

Schools, and the drive-by that sells

Relocating families choose the house from the school, and Toronto's independent schools - Upper Canada College, Bishop Strachan, Havergal, St. Clement's, the Toronto French School, Crescent, Branksome Hall, the York School, Appleby in Oakville, Country Day in King City - are spread across exactly the neighbourhoods on the tour. A chauffeur who knows where the school gate is and when pickup is lets the agent time a drive-by that shows the street as the family will live it. The Ontario Ministry of Education's public-school finder covers the public boards; the agent covers the rest; the chauffeur gets the car there at 3:25.

Booking a showing day

Choose By the hour, the SUV, the pickup at the hotel or the brokerage, the date and the time, and four to eight hours. Put the showing list in the notes in the order you plan to show it, with the times if they are fixed, and the dispatcher checks the drive times and flags the one that will not work at 4 pm on the 401. Put the client's name and the number of passengers. On a brokerage account, the file number. Changes on the day are by text to the chauffeur; a house that falls through is simply skipped and the block runs on.

A showing day, timed

9:00 the Four Seasons, Luxury SUV, agent and two clients. 9:20 Forest Hill, three houses on adjacent crescents, the car waiting on each. 11:00 a drive past UCC and BSS, then Rosedale, two houses. 12:30 lunch on Yorkville Avenue, the car on Hazelton. 1:45 the Bridle Path, one house, twenty minutes. 2:30 the 401 and the 404 to Unionville, two houses, the chauffeur circling the historic main street once so the clients see it. 4:15 the 404 and the DVP back downtown, the agent debriefing, the clients ranking. 5:00 the Four Seasons. Eight hours; eight billed; eight houses; the offer went in on the second one in Forest Hill on Thursday.

The pre-construction and new-build tour

Toronto's condo and new-home market is sold from presentation centres scattered across the city and the 905 - a Yonge and Eglinton sales office at 10, a Vaughan Metropolitan Centre tower at 11:30, a Pickering master-planned community at 2 - and a buyer's agent touring three in a day with an investor client from Hong Kong or Dubai books the SUV for six hours with the agent's brochures in the boot and the client's flight at the end. The Pearson page covers the arrival and the Vaughan and Ajax-Pickering pages the presentation-centre roads.

From our network: VWD article - duty of care in corporate travel · HotelsWorldwide.Directory - hotel and conference centres · LAI article - private chauffeur services · LimousineWorldwide.Directory - limo companies in Canada · BookingWorldwide.net - Toronto hotels, flights and activities.

Official sources for planning: Destination Toronto · Ontario 511 - road conditions.